Ebook: Xenophon and Sparta

The writing of Spartan history for long involved gliding - sometimes seamlessly - between the evidence of very different ancient sources. Now, a short series conceived by The Classical Press of Wales will examine closely and individually each of the principal sources and its relationship with classical Sparta. The first volume deals with Xenophon, to whom we owe a very large part of our image of the Lacedaemonians. Uniquely among surviving writers, Xenophon campaigned with Spartan commanders in the field. His `Agesilaos' is a eulogy of a Spartan king he knew personally, his `Constitution of the Lacedaemonians' an intimate document of a different sort. Here internationally-recognised authorities on Sparta examine Xenophon's close - arguably too close - relation with the most powerful Greek state of his day.